Natural disasters

[J.C.]

My country, Chile (it's in South America, right next to Argentina, in case you're wondering), is no stranger to natural disasters. If you look up the strongest earthquakes in recorded history, you'll find at the top of the list the 1960 Valdivia Earthquake, a monster 9.5 that killed around 6000 people... and just last year we were hit with an 8.8 magnitude (currently 8th on the list) that killed around 500 and cause extensive damage in some of the southern cities... when I remember what happened, it still feels unreal...and we get those every 15 to 20 years.

 

We also have the occasional volcano that decides to blow up all of a sudden, as these images from Puyehue show in a very dramatic way (these were taken yesterday).

 

(click to enlarge)

 

(click to enlarge)

 

There's been flight disruption all over Argentina (the wind is blowing the ash cloud over there) and thousand have been evacuated. Thankfully, no casualties so far.

 

What can we do when faced with a display of power of this magnitude? It's frightening... and oddly beautiful.

 

How does nature behave where you live?

Edited June 7, 2011 by Guest (see edit history)

[alphabetagamma]

Vancouver is calm disaster wise. There's been talk of a large earthquake in the medium-long term future but other than that it's the occasional mudslide or windstorm/rainstorm I feel very lucky to live here.

[Doom Shepherd]

Location: Western Pennsylvania, USA.

 

On the whole, where I live is not too bad, disaster-wise. Oh, occasionally we have an Epic storm roll through, in the last decade or so we've occasionally had what for us is fairly severe weather, a "once in a century" flood, a "once in a century" snowfall, and the occasional tornado.

 

But I've never had to live without power for more than a week (I might have when I was very little, my mother tells stories of a couple of storms that knocked out power to whole counties and flooded 4-lane roads) or been in significant fear for my life due to nature.

[WonSul]

Vancouver is calm disaster wise. There's been talk of a large earthquake in the medium-long term future but other than that it's the occasional mudslide or windstorm/rainstorm I feel very lucky to live here.

 

Active subduction zone that is approaching in recurrence interval, packed city, overhead powerlines. Truly, what could go wrong.

[alphabetagamma]

Vancouver is calm disaster wise. There's been talk of a large earthquake in the medium-long term future but other than that it's the occasional mudslide or windstorm/rainstorm I feel very lucky to live here.

 

Active subduction zone that is approaching in recurrence interval, packed city, overhead powerlines. Truly, what could go wrong.

Harold Camping might as well have predicted "the big one". There's been talk for a long time about that. I'm okay with another earthquake 100-300 years from now.

[WonSul]

Vancouver is calm disaster wise. There's been talk of a large earthquake in the medium-long term future but other than that it's the occasional mudslide or windstorm/rainstorm I feel very lucky to live here.

 

Active subduction zone that is approaching in recurrence interval, packed city, overhead powerlines. Truly, what could go wrong.

Harold Camping might as well have predicted "the big one". There's been talk for a long time about that. I'm okay with another earthquake 100-300 years from now.

 

I don't know who that is.

Geologically speaking, the recurrence interval isn't exactly a precise thing. It's based only on a few points of data to make a statistic. It ranges from 300 to 600 years for the Cascadia subduction zone. And the last Earthquake was in 1700. Recurrence interval aside, the other problem is with the stress involved in this particular subduction zone, it's not going to be a small tremor when it drops.

[alphabetagamma]

I don't know who that is.

The crazy May 21 rapture guy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Camping

Geologically speaking, the recurrence interval isn't exactly a precise thing. It's based only on a few points of data to make a statistic. It ranges from 300 to 600 years for the Cascadia subduction zone. And the last Earthquake was in 1700. Recurrence interval aside, the other problem is with the stress involved in this particular subduction zone, it's not going to be a small tremor when it drops.

Well I'll take around 400-600 if possible, I'll either be dead or my life will be so boring an earthquake would be welcome in my life.

[Bugthing]

Those pictures are beautiful, J.C.

[HoboJim]

Well, Sweden doesent exactly have eny severe weathere. Well except in the southern part where they had to save ppl with army vehicles, after 2-3 centimeters of snow fell from the sky. All the while i was laughing with half metre outside.

 

I guess im pretty lucky to live here, no tornados or floods or volcanos going off.

[Axeldeath]

In Auckland we don't really have any serious natural disasters, however within the next 100-300 years or so we will apparently have a new volcano erupting from the ground. It's because of those damn tectonic plates directly beneath us. Why do humans tend to build their biggest cities right in the danger zone for natural disaster's... *sigh*

[J.C.]

Why do humans tend to build their biggest cities right in the danger zone for natural disaster's... *sigh*

My whole country is right on top of a major subduction zone

 

Those pictures are beautiful, J.C.

Yes they are. The first one was on the cover of a local newspaper. I was walking by and went like this . It's a huge mess down there, but a very spectacular one. Just google images for "puyehue volcano" if you want to see more (EDIT: check out this site).

[WonSul]

Why do humans tend to build their biggest cities right in the danger zone for natural disaster's... *sigh*

Volcanically speaking, fertile soil. And where there's a volcano, there are also bound to be Earthquakes. At least if were talking about subduction zones.

The key problem imo though is that people aren't able to actually comprehend the risk even if they're aware of it. They'll think that because the disasters are usually so far apart on a time scale, like hundreds of years. That it cannot happen to them.

[Kyon]

We've had very unusual weather in Kansas, it may just be a bad year for us though. Also, if you're in America, expect food prices to go through the roof towards spring next year, we didn't plant our crops this year .

[Epsilon]

2011's been a pretty bad year for the South, although I can't complain as much as the people in Alabama or Missouri can. We've gotten so many severe thunderstorms and tornado watches, and the start of summer doesn't exactly help that issue.

 

I sort of wish I lived in Alaska.. I've never heard of tornadoes (possibly my #1 fear) there, nor any sort of crisis.

[BTGBullseye]

Disasters only happen when there are idiots in the area. You'll see lots of extremely smart people in disaster areas that are never affected...

 

South Dakota:

 

Tornadoes occasionally take out power lines, fences, barns, crops, livestock, and houses. Even the big ones they get rarely even cause injury. (an F5 passed within 2 miles of my house, had a ground time of 30+ min, and a swath of over 60 miles. 16 farms flattened, 1 golf course covered with junk, no injuries) They're smart, and go down into their storm cellars.

 

Floods will cover roads, people drive their cars around the flooded areas, and drive their boats in the flooded areas. Occasionally you'll see really prepared farmers driving their pickups through the flooded areas towing someone's out-of-gas boat while the boaters fish from the bed of the truck.

 

Snow can get to 12 feet deep drifts, with 4 foot snowfall. Most non-cityfolk will just drive the speedlimit instead of 15 over. Everyone else calls in a snow day, then wait for the plows to clear the road, then go out an have fun on their day off. You'll see the farmers towing offroading 4WD's out of ditches with their 2WD 1970's pickups.

 

 

Japan:

 

They build their buildings specifically to withstand their frequent earthquakes.

 

 

I should really make a longer list, but I'm not in the mood.

[Brad]

Ohio rarely experiences anything close to a natural disaster but I guess we should be thankful for that. But wow J.C., those pictures are both beautiful and scary.

[Ian]

Are you sure you don't live near Mordor?

[J.C.]

He he. Sometimes it feels that way.

[BDown]

2011's been a pretty bad year for the South, although I can't complain as much as the people in Alabama or Missouri can. We've gotten so many severe thunderstorms and tornado watches, and the start of summer doesn't exactly help that issue.

 

I sort of wish I lived in Alaska.. I've never heard of tornadoes (possibly my #1 fear) there, nor any sort of crisis.

 

Before you pack your bags to run off to Alaska, consider the fact that it's the home to the worlds 2nd highest Richter scale recording (9.2 in 1964), as well as an 8.7 in 1965, and an 8.6 in 1957. Not to mention the risks of the oil industry; the Exxon Valdez spill occurred off Alaskan coasts. There's also the 1958 Lituya Bay Megatsunami. Come to think of it, they must have gotten all of their bad luck in the 1950s and 60s, should be pretty safe by now .

 

On another note, my area doesn't usually get hit with any disasters except flooding occasionally. I have some pics from the flooding this year, it was the worst flooding in over 100 years. Those were taken before the worst of it, I believe it rose another 5-7 feet after that. I was fortunate, but many here weren't as lucky. Much of the damage still hasn't been repaired.

[Razor235]

It's relatively tame up here in ol' New Hampshah. We only get one or two tornadoes per two years, and the worst earthquake we had was around a 2.0. There are some nasty blizzards and rainstorms, especially the blizzard of '78. People are still telling stories of it. A guy on the radio actually ranted:

 

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU COULD JUMP OFF THE PRUDENTIAL AND LAND SAFELY, NOR THAT YOUR PONTIAC TRANS-AM WAS BURIED UNDER 900 FEET OF SNOW! I DON'T CARE THAT THERE WAS NINE MILLION FEET OF SNOW AND IT TOOK TWO YEARS TO MELT! WHATS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??!?"